LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Day 2’s quarterfinals are now complete at the 76th annual B.C. senior girls basketball championships at the Langley Events Centre.
The stage is now set for Friday’s Final Four.
Here are the matchups in Triple-A being staged at the LEC’s South Court.
6:45 p.m. — No. 1 Argyle vs. No. 5 Semiahmoo
8:30 p.m. — No. 2 Riverside vs. No. 3 MEI
Howard Tsumura
NO. 2 RIVERSIDE 80 NO. 7 G.W. GRAHAM 46
By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — When the coaches of teams that open the B.C. Quad-A championships on Day 1 with an 8:30 a.m. tip-off, there is the opportunity to perhaps catch another game or two before getting down to preparation for the second day’s quarterfinals.
Riverside Rapids’ co-coach Jeremy Neufeld did some of that yesterday, and a little of what he saw seemed to reinforce just the way that Port Coquitlam’s No. 2-seeded Rapids needed to start in their game against Chilliwack’s GW Graham Grizzlies.
“We just wanted to make sure that we set the tone and had a lot of energy coming out of the gate, because we watched a lot of games here yesterday, and there were upsets, too. And the teams that won were the teams that went after it. You know, at the start of the start of the game. So we wanted to kind of set the tone for ourselves.”
Not every team has the talent to dial up an aggressive mindset and play the kind of full-court, man-to-man, ball-hawking defence and be successful with it when the moment demands it.
Riverside, however, seemed to prove otherwise.
The Rapids bolted out to leads of 12-2 and 17-5 before the first quarter was over, ultimatley building a 25-point lead. Then, when the Grizzlies got to within 12 points (53-41) late in the third quarter, Riverside created major seperation again, this time finishing the game oin a 27-5 run.
Ari Brown, the 6-foot Grade 9 who so impressed with her 22-point performance this past December, leading her Rapids past the two-time defending B.C. champion Seaquam Seahawks in the semifinals of the TBI Super 16, turned in another 22 point performance, including nine over team’s opening-quarter blitz.
Francesca Salonga, the 5-foot-10 Grade 10 guard who last season helped lead Riverside to a B.C. junior championship title over the very same G.W. Graham Grizzlies en routw to earning tournament MVP honours, was selected Player of the Game after her 14-point performance..
And Henna Virk, also a member of that B.C. title-winning junior team who then joined the senior Rapids for last season’s run to the Final Four, added 16 points.
Neufeld added that the personality of this season’s team is the kind you want to have at this time of the season, when your next game could be your last and the most important thing you can carry is a love for the game.
“Our girls are really buying in this year and we’re a really young group, and they’re taking it all in,” he said of his fact that his team remained behind in the stands to watch the MEI Eagles defeat the Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils, meaning the Rapids and Eagles will battle in an 8:30 p.m. Friday game for a berth in Saturday’s title game.
“They’re all still here right now,” said pointing to the stands at South Court. “And they’re kind of just putting your life on hold right now and just immersing basketball. They’re watching, they’re learning from other teams. You know, ‘What would we do in that scenario? What would we do in this scenario? And if we played this girl, how would I guard her?’ So they’re really taking it all in. They’re watching games, they’re watching film, and it’s really awesome to see.
The Grizzlies were led by the 13 points of Grade 11 guard Katie Schmitke.
NO. 3 MEI 73 NO. 11 DR. CHARLES BEST 66
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
Deep into the final minute of regulation, the Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils battled to prove that Cinderella’s slipper was a fit.
But in the end, the potential fairy tale that the No. 11-seeded squad in the Quad-A draw was seeking to fashion came up against cold, hard reality in the form of the No. 3 Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles.
The Eagles’ length, depth and pace proved too much on Thursday evening, as they fended off the Blue Devils – upset winners the day prior over the two-time reigning champ Seaquam Seahawks – by a 73-66 count in provincial quarter-final action.
“We knew they wouldn’t go away, and we saw that on every game tape we watched,” MEI head coach Sarah Neufeld said afterward. “We just had to hold and maintain our intensity. They bring so much intensity, and I didn’t want that to dictate our energy.”
There are teams in the Quad-A field with taller individual players than MEI can point to on its roster sheet. But player-for-player, you’d be hard-pressed to find a squad with a longer collective wingspan than these Eagles.
Now, we’re not going to get out the tape measure and prove it, but you’d be unlikely to get much of an argument from the Blue Devils, who struggled mightily in the first half to find the range on offence, be-deviled as they were by a maze of lanky arms materializing from all angles.
Senior forwards Ella Tatlock (6’2”) and Julianna Reimer (6’2”) and rangy Grade 11 wing Tanaya Bos (5’11”) set the tone in the MEI starting lineup, with the likes of Madie Corneau (5’11”) and Aubrey Thiessen (5’10”) coming in off the bench to wreak further havoc.
Charles Best, to be fair, was able to get loose in transition at times; the problem was, once they reached the rim, there always seemed to be a long-limbed Eagle meeting them at the summit.
Foul trouble further hampered the underdogs, as starters Natalie Piasentin, Bianka Mazan and Ashreya Sanghera-Gulamhussein each picked up their third personal fouls in the second quarter, and spent long stretches on the bench.
The Eagles limited the Blue Devils to just six field goals in the first half, and took a 31-17 edge into the break.
There was no quit in this Charles Best squad, though, and after trailing by as many as 17, they battled all the way back to five points (61-56) with just under three minutes left in regulation. Helping their cause, Tatlock was ushered to the bench after picking up her fifth and disqualifying foul.
Reimer knocked down a super-clutch trey to give the Eagles some breathing room, but Mazan answered with a trey of her own just seconds later.
MEI wasn’t truly comfortable until Aliyah Bos’s three-pointer with 30 seconds left appeared to be the dagger, giving her team a 73-63 lead. Even then, the Blue Devils responded with Sanghera-Gulamhussein triple, but the clock ran out on their upset bid.
“Coach keeps reminding us that basketball is a game of runs, and she compared it to a horse race today,” said Tatlock, who poured in a game-high 20 points. “They’re going to go at it, and then we’re going to go at it. It’s about trusting the training, and the faith we have in each other.
“All 12 of us know what it’s like to be here and know what it takes to play on the final stage,” Tatlock added, alluding to her team’s status as the reigning B.C. champions at the Triple-A tier. “As a group collectively, we all have that goal in mind, and we want to get there.”
Both teams showcased balanced attacks. For the Blue Devils, Mahal Barroso led the way with 18 points, and Elizabeth Fast (16), Sanghera-Gulamhussein (13) and Mazan (12) also scored in double figures.
For the Eagles, Tatlock was joined atop the team scoring list by Reimer (14), Tanayah Bos (12) and KyLia Schellenberg (nine).
MEI finished the game with seven blocked shots, per their own internal stats, and they altered many others.
“It’s a gift to have the length we have,” Neufeld noted. “It gives us some flexibility on the defensive end, where if we get beat, we know we have help coming.
“That length is special, and our two Grade 12’s, Julianna Reimer and Ella Tatlock, have the most. They’re special kids to coach, and they know their ability to block shots and rebound. And they really bought in tonight – I thought Ella was spectacular.”
The Eagles advance to play No. 2 Riverside in Friday’s semifinals (8:30 p.m., LEC South Court).
Neufeld noted her team has played the Rapids twice this season – both tightly contested Riverside wins.
“We know them enough, and they know us enough,” Neufeld said. “It’ll just be a matter of execution tomorrow, really.”
NO. 1 ARGYLE 73 NO. 8 OKANAGAN MISSION 71
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
Shae Sandhu and the Okanagan Mission Huskies took their best shot at toppling the Goliath of the senior girls Quad-A draw.
But while the No. 1-ranked Arygle Pipers looked awfully unsteady on their feet for a while – battered as they were by eight Sandhu three-pointers in an incredible shooting display – they ultimately survived by a too-close-for-comfort but enough-to-advance score of 73-71.
Post-game, Pipers head coach Anthony Beyrouti was asked whether weathering such a stiff quarter-final test would bode well for his team moving forward. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
“I hope so – I hope you’re right,” the veteran bench boss said with a wry grin. “If it’s true, I’ll take it.
“It was a little iffy at times, but at the end of the day, we took care of business and got the job done.”
Early on, if we’re being frank, it didn’t look like this would be much of a ballgame.
It was all Argyle early – the North Vancouver squad raced out to a 15-2 lead, looking every bit the dominant No. 1 seed. Senior forwards Sophie Nicholson and Isabella Miljkovic did much of the damage during that stretch, notching six points apiece.
It was at that point that Sandhu started to cook.
The Grade 12 guard poured in 11 first-quarter points, highlighted by a trio of treys to spark a 13-0 surge to draw her squad level at 15-15.
Argyle seemingly snuffed the OKM uprising, responding with another resounding run of their own – a 17-1 surge bridging the first and second quarters. Senior guard Sadie Danks was in the middle of it, registering seven points in the second as the Pipers grabbed a 43-27 lead at half.
Sandhu just kept coming, though. The UBC Okanagan Heat signee drained back-to-back-to-back triples in the third quarter, sparking a 13-0 run to get her team back to within 51-49.
OKM continued to push in the fourth, and would surge ahead 66-63 after Grade 10 centre Jessie Umeris hit a tough lefty hook shot with just 2:30 left in regulation.
Argyle’s Cassidy Nugent stepped up to steady her squad – she drained a three-pointer to knot the score, and Danks followed with a steal and long two-point jumper of her own to give the Pipers a two-point edge.
Mila David, OKM’s Grade 9 standout, stepped to the free throw line to drain a pair and level the score once again, but Miljkovic’s offensive rebound and putback gave her squad a lead they would not relinquish.
Ultimately, the Huskies were left to lament their performance at the free throw line – they made just 8-of-18 from the charity stripe. Argyle, however, would have had their own what-ifs, had the result gone the other way. They made just 8-of-23 from the line themselves.
Sandhu’s 35 points – highlighted by those eight threes – were easily a game high. And while the disappointment was still fresh, she was proud of the performance she and her team put on the court vs. Argyle.
“Competing against a No. 1 team and coming so close, it’s a great feeling,” Sandhu said. “Of course I’m a little bit sad, especially since I missed those two free throws (with three minutes left). I wish I’d hit those, because I know what we could have done in this game.
“We’re a very young team, mainly Grade 11’s, so it was just amazing how we could compete against a team that is so much more mature than us.”
And what did it feel like to shoot the ball like that on the provincial stage?
“I was definitely in the flow,” she said. “I felt confident in my three today. Yesterday (in the opening round vs. Oak Bay) it wasn’t falling as much, so today I made sure I was confident and wasn’t second-guessing when I shot. I just let it fly.”
David added 14 points for OKM, and Maya-Lynn Ramsay chipped in with eight points.
For the Pipers, Nicholson led the way with 16 points, Danks notched 15, and Miljkovic and Nugent scored 14 apiece.
“At the end of the day, some veteran leadership at the end of the game really made a big difference,” Beyrouti noted.
Argyle advances to the Quad-A semis on Friday (6:45 p.m., LEC South Court) vs. the winner of Thursday’s late game between Johnson Heights and Semiahmoo.
NO. 5 SEMIAHMOO 72 NO. 4 JOHNSTON HEIGHTS 55
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
It was an old-fashioned duel at the OK Corral.
The combatants? Big-picture, it was the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds vs. the Johnston Heights Eagles.
But zoom in, and this was a story of two gunslingers, Semi’s Jaida Claypool and Johnston’s Puneet Deol, spending the better part of 40 minutes trying to one-up the other with an increasingly ridiculous array of circus shots.
The stakes? A berth in the B.C. Quad-A girls semifinals, obviously. And layered on top? Surrey city supremacy.
When the dust had settled, it was the Thunderbirds emerging with a 72-55 Quad-A quarter-final triumph over their local rivals that was much closer than the final score indicated.
The two shooting stars each accounted for at least half of their teams’ final tally – Claypool with 36 points, Deol with 29 – but neither managed to finish the game. Deol fouled out with 4:39 left, and Claypool exited with a left calf injury with 2:45 remaining. It was a crying shame that their duel didn’t reach its natural conclusion, yet it was memorable all the same.
“No one does it by themselves,” Claypool was quick to point out post-game, tipping her metaphorical cap to her teammates while acknowledging how special it was to trade buckets with an opponent of Deol’s calibre.
“She’s a great player, for sure, and she’s going to be a great player for years. It’s great to see.”
The two local rivals had played three times prior to Thursday’s quarter-final, with Johnston Heights wining two of those three including the most recent meeting in the South Fraser title game.
The Eagles got off to a strong start, leading by as many as 10 points in the second quarter. Claypool, limited to a single point in the first quarter, perked up late in the second, igniting an 11-0 run to briefly give her team a lead. At the half, it was Johnston Heights holding a slender 28-27 lead. Deol’s total stood at 13 points, Claypool had just seven.
After the break, Claypool went absolutely ballistic, scoring 16 points in the third quarter alone. Deol matched her shot for shot.
We’ll isolate a two-possession sequence midway through the frame that summarizes how special these two players are. Semi had surged ahead 38-33, and it felt like they were on the verge of breaking the game open. Deol seemed to understand that and knew her team needed a bucket. She drove to her right against three T-Bird defenders, spun back to her left to elude them all, and laid the ball in. A true Houdini act.
Semiahmoo’s ensuing possession was a bit of a mess; with the shot clock running down, the ball found its way to Claypool on the left wing with her back to the hoop, under heavy pressure from Nevaeh Kong. She spun to the middle of the floor and hoisted the only shot she could, given the shot-clock constraints and Kong’s suffocating defence – a one-legged, high-arcing fadeaway from beyond the arc. It hit the back rim, bounced high in the air, rattled around for a moment, and fell through.
For the neutral fan, this was outstanding content.
Eventually, the duel became a war of attrition as Deol picked up her fifth and disqualifying foul on a Claypool drive. The Grade 10 guard headed to the bench, lip quivering, and who could blame her? Semi stretched its lead to 62-52 after the Claypool free throws.
Claypool, shortly thereafter, hit the ground on another all-out assault on the hoop and came up grabbing her left calf. She departed with the game still in doubt, but her teammates took it home from there. Mya Thompson’s three-pointer with 1:45 left was effectively the dagger, extending the Semi advantage to 67-55.
Post-game, Claypool said she’d be fine for Friday’s semis, which will see her team take on the top-seeded Argyle Pipers (6:45 p.m., LEC South Court).
“I’m good to go, for sure – it was just a cramp,” she said.
“I was just trying to set my teammates up for the best success possible tonight. We knew that driving in, we were going to draw a lot of defenders, and we could find the open player kicking it out. My teammates hitting shots opens it up for me on the inside, so all the credit goes to them. This is a great team win for us. We’ve just grown so much together, we have the trust, and we’re looking forward to taking this to the next level.”
Beyond Claypool’s 36, the T-Birds got 15 points (highlighted by four three-pointers) from Savanna Wong, and eight apiece from Thompson and Priya Sangha.
Nyemuch Job, with nine points, and Fajr Hanjra, with seven, also chipped in offensively for the Eagles.
Afterward, Johnston Heights head coach Harjit Deol – Puneet’s dad – noted how special it was to watch Claypool and Deol go back and forth.
“It’s exciting to watch – it’s great for girls basketball,” he said. “She (Claypool) is a great player, and obviously Puneet likes competing, so I think it’s really good.
“Puneet leads our team, so losing her was tough. Some of the calls were a little on the borderline, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Johnston Heights is making its first-ever appearance at senior girls basketball provincials, and Coach Deol said the big takeaway for his squad was that they can compete at the highest level.
“Being a Grade 10 and Grade 9 group, basically, as my starters, we’re excited about the future,” he said. “There are a lot of positives to take away. I know the girls are disappointed, but you know what, I know they’ll bounce back next year.”
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